Unmei no Kaze
by Tohyama Reki
Summary: <html><head></head>Last Christmas, Tai lost her. He decides to give up and support friendship and love, but when someone from his past comes into the picture, the winds of fate start to blow once again.</html>
1. The winds start blowing once more

**So, this is a story that I actually began writing about…nine years ago or so? Sometime after 02's epilogue came out and while I was still recovering from the shock of that season's Christmas episode. I'm freaking hyped up for Adventure 03 coming out next Spring. I do hope they don't keep true to the epilogue from 02 though. *ramblerambleramble***

**One point of note that I have to bring up is that while this story will follow the cannon storyline, the digimon won't be making as many appearances or play as big a role in this story. It doesn't mean that I don't like them (they're hilarious), but rather it's hard to fit them into the story without extreme effort. Well with that said, please enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Summary: Last Christmas, Tai lost her. He decides to give up and support friendship and love, but when someone from his past comes into the picture, the winds of fate start to blow once again.<strong>

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own digimon nor anything associated with the show. Unfortunately.<strong>

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><p><strong>Prologue: The winds start blowing once more<strong>

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><p>It has been a few months since the incident. Well, it might not have been an incident on the scale of what happened several years ago when Odaiba was terrorized by digimon, or even be regarded as an 'incident' at all by others, but at least to myself I can regard it as such.<p>

It was the day that broke my heart. The day the girl I loved said she liked my best friend. True, I never actually told her my feelings, but it still came as a major, yet should have been foreseen, blow to myself. Despite holding the crest of courage, I couldn't even muster up the courage to tell the truth before that incident. Irony at its finest.

I admit being both emotionally and mentally distraught afterwards for a while. Kari, Mom, Agumon, my friends; it seemed like nobody could help me get back to normal. It seems like I was sinking into extreme despair and negativity. I even had thoughts of killing, yes _killing_, my best friend over the completely wrong and trivial thought that he had "stolen her" from me. Fortunately, it never went further than that.

Eventually though, I calmed down and thought it through more carefully. There was nothing to really debate at that point. That rockstar-in-training friend of mine did nothing wrong, he just stepped up and did what I lacked the courage to do. It was at that point that I decided. Crest of friendship be damned, I'll be an even greater friend and support to the two of them than anyone in the history of the world has been to someone else.

After all, it's my best friend and the girl I love, it's not some random stranger that I can't approve of or never heard of before. Although I'm going to take advantage of the fact that he's my best friend and rib/annoy him like no tomorrow.

And also, most importantly, she's happy. And I'm happy that she's happy. That's enough for me for now.

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><p>"You have got to be kidding me. No, this is rigged. I refuse to accept this."<p>

"Accept it Matt. This is how the seat drawing came out."

"No, I refuse to accept it. So we all go to the same high school, that's fine, I can accept that. But we not only get drawn into the same class together which is bad enough as is, but we're seat sorted into a small clump in the corner together as well?! I see enough of you as is OUTSIDE of class."

"Just accept it Matt."

"Why you…"

"Calm down you two," Sora Takenouchi remarked from where she was seated directly in front of a certain goggle-headed boy and amusingly watching said boy counter-argue his best friend who was seated right beside him. "I mean, everything aside it could be worse. Much, much worse. Apocalymon could randomly come back from nowhere and start causing trouble again."

"…point taken." Matt replied, sinking back into his seat and sighing.

"Think of it this way if it's really that bad." Izzy said from his seat directly in front of Matt. "Ignore the idiot next to you ("HEY!") and focus on the person diagonally in front of you. At least the seating assignments got the couple seated near each other, right?"

At Izzy's words, both of the people the computer genius was referring to turned slightly red. Tai smiled at the sight of the two of them, albeit very forced, a fact that Izzy (who was watching Tai closely instead of the other two in question) did not miss.

"So Joe's in the year ahead of us and Mimi's in America." Tai randomly remarked while staring up at the ceiling after the previous conversation. "Kari and the younger ones are still in middle school. At least the majority of the original digidestined are still together."

"Until the next seat change."

"Matt, just accept it."

Matt would have retorted, but was interrupted as the door opened and the teacher walked into the room. The class instantly quieted down from their pre-school day conversations and chaos.

"Stand. Bow. ("Yoroshikuonegaishimasu") Sit." The teacher went through the normal start routine that everyone had gotten extremely used to in middle school. After attendance, the teacher gave morning announcements.

"First off, congratulations into making it into Odaiba High School. While you spend your next three years here, I will be your homeroom teacher, Nakazawa Ohta."

He paused for a moment to turn around to the blackboard and write his name in Kanji.

"Now, first off, although it's the first day of the school year, I'd like to announce an incoming student."

The class broke off into mutterings.

"An incoming student? Does he mean a transfer student?"

"Can't be, we're a first-year class."

"It's possible to transfer into a school on the first day?"

"Do you think it's a guy or a girl?"

"I hope it's a cute girl."

"Nah, I'd prefer a hot guy."

"Quiet please." Ohta-sensei remarked, and the class instantly settled down. "To answer some questions, let me begin by asking myself: "how many here know of our school's athletic exemption entrance policy?"

A few hands went up, including Tai's and Sora's.

"For those of you who don't know, our school, as well as many other schools around Japan allow for a couple exemptions on normal entrance exams for athletes. Yagami here is one of them."

Tai waved to the class.

"Takenouchi in front of him was also offered one for soccer, but she declined and entered of her own volition."

"So what does that do with this incoming student?" asked one of the boys in the front.

"The student in question did not come from a Japanese middle school, so it was a tiny bit trickier. Plus, there were circumstances as the student in question came to us rather than our school reaching out to them." The teacher's finished explanation was met with nods from the now-understanding students. "With that said, Nanakusa-san, you can come in now."

The front door to the classroom opened and the student being talked about walked in and stood in front of the blackboard beside the teacher's podium. It was a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail, her left eye closed, and wearing a slightly modified version of the school uniform with sleeves that extended past her hands (leading to her arms being inside her sleeves).

"It is nice to meet you. My name Nanakusa Sun-Ok **(A.N: Pronounced "Sun-Oak")** and I hope to get along with all of you."

There was a loud crash at this moment, causing everyone to turn to find that Taichi had slipped out of his seat and was now seated on the ground with a shocked expression on his face.

"Y…you?"

The girl smiled.

"It's been a while Taichi Yagami-sama. I hope you have been well."

Off to the side, Sora felt a slight twinge in her heart at the familiarily, although she didn't know what it was.

_The winds of fate started to blow once more_

**END PROLOGUE**

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><p><strong>So, I hope that you enjoyed the prologue. Please R&amp;R and I hope you continue reading this story as it goes on.<strong>


	2. Reunion

**So, I was going back over the prologue and I realized that I made a minor mistake: Nanakusa is the girl's last name, not first as I accidentally wrote her name in Japanese format instead of Western out of habit.**

**Oh, and my laziness is affecting me from updating fast ^_^;**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, sadly.<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Reunion<strong>

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><p>The scene in the classroom could be described as something that just came out of a scene in a manga. On one end of the classroom, Tai was sitting on the ground after falling out of the chair, staring in shock at the new student. On the other end of the classroom, the new student in question, Nanakusa, was smiling back. In between these two was the entirety of the class looking back and forth between the two involved in this scene, some with confused looks, some with amused looks, and a few (in the case of Tai's soccer fangirls who had followed him from middle school and some boys who weren't popular with girls) with jealousy.<p>

"Oh? You two already know each other?" the teacher asked in surprise.

"Y-yeah…" Tai affirmed.

"It's been a little while though." Nanakusa added. "Maybe…slightly over a year or so?"

"Interesting." Ohta-sensei remarked. "While we're on the topic at hand, why don't you introduce yourself to the class Nanakusa?"

"Certainly, sensei." The girl bowed to the teacher before turning back to face the class (Tai hadn't picked himself off the ground yet).

"Once again, my name is Sun-Ok Nanakusa. I come from Incheon Middle School in Incheon, South Korea, but I have been to Japan many times both on sports trips and other trips, so this isn't my first time here. I was accepted under the school's athlete exemption entrance program with a focus on soccer and I look forward to working with all of you."

The class clapped at the end of her introduction, albeit several of them were still looking back and forth between Tai (who had finally picked himself off the ground and returned to his seat) and Nanakusa.

"Thank you for that introduction. For your seat, let's have you sit…oh, that's convenient." The teacher remarked after spending a second looking around the classroom. "It looks like there's an open seat behind Kamiya, so why don't we have you sit there?"

"Yes." Nanakusa bowed to the teacher before walking toward the before-mentioned seat. After confirming that she reached the seat, the teacher turned back toward the board and started the first class of the day.

As soon as the teacher's back was turned, Tai turned around in his seat to look at Nanakusa.

"You can't be serious."

"I always was." The girl replied back with no emotion on her face.

Shaking his head, Tai turned back to face the board…at least until he felt bored of the lesson and began to daydream in his seat (causing Matt who had noticed to sigh helplessly at the sight).

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><p>"Oh god, I thought I was going to die." Tai remarked loudly as he slumped forward onto his desk after the bell rang for lunch break. "I'd gotten so used to the freedom of spring vacation <strong>(A.N. Japanese schools generally start in March)<strong> that school's feeling like torture."

"I can't see how that's possible." Matt replied from his seat. "Especially considering the fact that you were probably only paying attention for five minutes before dozing off."

"That is not true!" Tai rebuked, sitting straight up in his seat again.

"Then tell me what was the main subject of the lesson today."

"…something academic I think?" Tai replied with a sheepish look on his face. Matt sighed hopelessly, Sora rolled her eyes, and Izzy facedesked, although thankfully he missed his laptop.

"Tai, it was a freaking INTRODUCTION class today. We didn't even cover a subject, it was just about welcoming into high school and what to expect!" Sora practically yelled at the messy-headed boy, drawing a few stares from students who hadn't left for lunch yet. "If this is how you are on an introduction class, I fear to think what you'll be like during an actual class."

"The same as he was in middle school?" Izzy remarked.

"Hopefully not." Sora replied and the group shared a laugh remembering Tai's habit of annoying teachers to no end by not paying attention.

"Well, shall we head off to the usual place?" Tai asked. "I'm sure Joe's already waiting for us."

"Probably either panicking or studying furiously knowing him." Matt remarked. The group chuckled as they prepared to head out. Just then, someone poked Tai on the shoulder, causing him to turn around (as well as getting the group to stop for a moment in response).

"How rude." Nanakusa remarked (for it was she who had poked Tai on the shoulder), putting on a pout face. "We haven't seen each other for over a year and you don't even make an effort to talk?"

"It's not like I was trying to intentionally ignore you." Tai replied. "There was no time to talk during the class breaks at all."

"Understandable."

"So, what do you want?" Tai asked. Nanakusa's pout became even more pronounced from Tai's lack of tact and obvious hurriness.

"The teacher wanted me to ask you to show me around the school, especially since I studied in a different country. He thought it was a good idea since I already knew you and vice-versa."

"…aren't South Korean schools almost the same as Japanese ones in general matters and layout?"

"We can play soccer for a bit as well afterwards."

"…" Tai's face showed a multiple of emotions as he weighed between this potential bribe (which was hitting his obviously weak spot) and eating lunch as he normally did.

"Just go Tai." Matt remarked from behind him. "We'll just go on ahead and you can join us afterwards. Lunch break is pretty long after all."

"…Alright then. I'll catch you later." Tai replied. He then motioned to Nanakusa, who bowed slightly and followed him out the door.

"Is it just me or does that girl remind me of one of his middle school fangirls?" Izzy remarked.

"It seems more than that to me." Matt replied.

Meanwhile, Sora stood a little off to the side. Internally, something was causing turmoil in her heart at the sight of the two of them, although she didn't know what it was.

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><p>"It looks like you're close with those friends of yours." Nanakusa remarked as the two of them walked around the school. It turned out that Tai was spot on when he remarked that the two countries' school system was similar and Nanakusa knew the general location of everything even without Tai showing her. So the "introduction" show-around turned into just a general conversation while walking around the school.<p>

"Of course. We've been together ever since summer camp of fifth grade, although some of us have known each other much longer than that."

"That doesn't seem that long at all." Nanakusa remarked.

"…we've been through a lot together." Tai explained, his thoughts briefly flicking to the digimon-related events of the past.

"Is it related to digital monsters, Koromon, Piyomon, and those other names that you remark sometimes when talking with your friends?" Nanakusa asked. Tai coughed violently at this question, trying to cover up his (very) obvious surprise. "You really should turn your mike off sometimes when we're talking via the internet."

Tai mentally berated himself for forgetting to do so when he had had to answer calls from the other digidestined.

"Well, no worries." Nanakusa continued on, snapping Tai back to reality. "I feel that even if you explained, I wouldn't understand it, so I won't press on." (Tai breathed a sigh of relief at this statement)

"So why did you call me out anyways?" Tai asked. "You obviously didn't need any introduction or have to be shown around the school."

"What's wrong with having a chat with someone you haven't seen in a year?" Nanakusa replied. A few moments passed by in silence until she spoke up again: "I was worried about you."

"Worried?" Tai asked, confused. "How so?"

"Your attitude has…changed, to put it lightly." Nanakusa replied. "When I saw you over a year ago, you were peppy, full of happiness, just…yourself. You seem more…sad…now to say the least."

Tai didn't answer, just looked into the sky silently.

"Is it anything I can help with?" Nanakusa perked up hopefully. Tai shook his head.

"It's nothing, just something that happened a little while ago. I'm over it now." Tai replied. Nanakusa's face still showed some worry, but she decided to drop the subject at hand.

"But still," Tai continued, trying to change the topic of the conversation, "I didn't know you actually meant it when you said you would like to try being on the same team as me eventually."

Nanakusa shrugged.

"As I said before in the classroom, I'm generally serious when it comes to that sort of matter." She explained. "We've always been against each other on the soccer pitches for our respective countries, and I just thought it would be interesting."

Tai shook his head at the explanation.

"So in other words…you came to a completely different country for high school because of that?" Nanakusa nodded in response.

"It's more than that too." She whispered to herself while she did so.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Your friends are waiting for you, aren't they?"

Tai looked at the school clock and did a double take.

"Well, I suppose soccer can wait until practice after school." Nanakusa declared. "Let's go meet your friends. Maybe you can introduce me."

"Sure thing." Tai replied, before heading off in a direction, Nanakusa following closely behind.

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><p>"Tai! Over here!" Izzy called as he saw the two of them walking over. The computer nerd was sitting on the grass near one of the school fences along with Sora, Matt, and a certain aspiring doctor from the year above them.<p>

"Hey all. Hey Joe, glad to see you made it through alright." Tai remarked as he walked up.

"Yeah, we've already got homework in second year on the first day." said Joe. "Although once you think about it, it's not surprising since we've been here for a year already and don't need an introductory class."

"Anyways Joe, this is Nanakusa, the transfer/incoming student that joined our class today." Sora said, motioning to the girl as she did so. Joe nodded his head at her in response.

"Joe Kido. I'm a second year, one year above these guys, but I still hang around with this group."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Anyways Tai," Matt said from where he was sitting sharing a bento with Sora. "Did Nanakusa find your guide helpful?"

"She already knew everywhere ahead of time." Tai scowled, throwing a glaring look at the girl behind him (who had suddenly found something in the clouds to be very, very interesting). The group laughed in response. "I don't even know WHY she decided to ask for a tour from me."

At these words, Nanakusa instantly snapped her gaze to focus on the back of Tai's back with a hurt look on her face. Izzy did not miss this gaze. The others also noticed it, but did not think anything of it.  
>Just then, the school bell rang.<p>

"Damn, it's that time already?" Joe remarked, packing up what remained of his lunch. "I'll see you guys later, my class is on the top floor." With that said, he took off.

"I never knew Joe could run that fast…" Sora remarked as they stared at his retreating form.

"So, ready to head off to class?" Matt asked. The others nodded and were about to head off when Izzy spoke up:

"I'll join you guys in a sec. Nanakusa, mind if I speak about something?"

The girl nodded in response.

"Alright, but don't be late." Tai warned, and he and the rest of the group headed off back toward the school building. Izzy waited until they were out of earshot before speaking.

"So…what's your goal here?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Nanakusa replied with a deadpan look on her face.

"Don't play dumb with me. The others might not have noticed it, but I saw that look you gave Tai."

"…even if there was something, why does it really matter to you?" Nanakusa replied after about a second of silence.

"I'm speaking as Tai's really good friend. If you're aiming for him yourself, I have to consider you an enemy to what I'm trying to do."

Nanakusa suddenly laughed loudly. Izzy took a step back in surprise.

"So that's what you think." She said after she managed to stop laughing. "…well, I can't say you're wrong, but that's not my main goal here."

"May I ask what's your main goal?"

"It's a secret for now."

Izzy and Nanakusa stared at each other for a second. Izzy then sighed and picked up his bag.

"I won't push it for now since class is about to start, but I'll find out what you're up to eventually." Izzy remarked. "Until then, I'll have to consider you as an enemy to my own goals."

"That's only fair." The girl replied, a small smile creeping on her face. Izzy then nodded politely and headed off after the rest of the group.

Nanakusa stood in place for a minute, looking at his retreating back.

"Don't let go of your goal, pursue it and defeat me." She whispered to herself. "Tai needs friends like you in this hour of fate."

She then shouldered her bag and headed off back to class.

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><p><strong>End Reunion<strong>

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><p><strong>Well, please R&amp;R and I hope you enjoyed. I'll see you all in chapter 2!<strong>


	3. Decision

**So, I'm looking up in the upper-corner while re-reading the prologue of my story to proofread it and my OCD starts kicking in while seeing 2. next to the name of chapter 1. I really wish there was a way to mark it as prologue, 1, 2 instead of 1; 2; 3.**

**But here I am rambling again for something that shouldn't even be a worry ^_^;**

**Disclaimer: Still wishing I owned digimon…**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Decision<strong>

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><p>Ping-pong, ping-pong.<p>

"And that is it for your first day." Ohta-sensei concluded his lesson. "Please remember that the first week of the year is club sign-up week and if you want to avoid the ruckus and join the go-home club, there is always the option of hopping the back fence of the school."

The class chuckled at the teacher's joke. After the usual stand and bow ("Arigatou Gozaimasu"), the class broke up for the day, some leaving immediately, others taking care of class chores, and some just hanging around, including a certain group in the back corner of the classroom.

"That was tiring. Glad the day's over." Tai announced, stretching his arms into the air.

"I'm legitimately surprised." Matt replied to the goggle-head. "You managed to not zone out the rest of the day after lunch break. Color me impressed."

Tai grinned sheepishly at Matt.

"To be honest, I'm really trying to make an effort to pay more attention and do better in High School." He admitted. "I feel more like if I simply pay attention to what's going on, the work and tests in themselves would be easier and there will be more time to play soccer in the long run, which is a win-win situation."

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group stared at Tai wide-eyed.

"Well, I can't say that's wrong, but…" Izzy started.

"Who are you and what the hell have you done with the real Taichi Kamiya*?" finished Nanakusa. The group broke out in laughter in response, while Tai sat at his desk with the same sheepish grin on his face.

"But honestly," Izzy gasped after he finished laughing. "that's not a bad way of thinking at all. If you actually pull it off, I'll be utterly impressed."

"Not going to happen." Matt announced. Sora elbowed her boyfriend in the rib.

"Now, don't be mean." She said. "Let's give him a chance to see if he actually does it."

"Anyhow," Izzy interrupted, changing the conversation topic. "What are you all planning to do in regards to school clubs? I mean, I have a good idea already, but if there ever was a time to try something new, it's now when we just got into high school."

Tai grinned in a slightly stupid way.

"Well, I did come to the school to play soccer, so I guess it's to the soccer club for me." He said. Tai hesitated a moment before adding: "I doubt I would honestly fit in anywhere else to be honest."

"I'll probably be joining the tennis club." Sora said. "I did play it in middle school at my mom's behest anyhow."

"Why don't you come back to soccer?" Tai ribbed her. "I could always use someone to keep feeding me assists for my goal count."

"Dream on, Kamiya." Sora laughed.

"What about you Matt?" Izzy asked. "I take it the light music club?" Matt shook his head in response.

"I was talking to the other guys and we decided it would be better if we just tried to form our own club." The rock-star-in-training explained. "It's not that big of a priority though, because if we can't do so, we can just practice outside of school anyhow."

"So I'm the only one considering joining a different club than the one I was in in middle school?" Izzy asked. "Well, that shouldn't have been surprising for me…"

"You're not joining the computer club?" Tai asked. Izzy shook his head.

"I can always use my computer whenever I want anyhow. Plus, I want to get back into something that I haven't played since elementary school."

"What club?" asked Tai. Izzy grinned.

"You'll see…"

"Now that's a shock." Matt remarked. "Anyhow, shall we go? It should be chaotic trying to get around all the club recruitment tables out there."

The group nodded and started walking toward the classroom door. Halfway there, a thought came to Sora's mind and she stopped (causing the rest of the group to stop as well).

"Oh yeah." The auburn-haired girl remarked. "Nanakusa, you're also joining the soccer club as well, right?"

"Yes." Nanakusa affirmed. Tai smirked.

"Going to try and get number one like you always do? I can't ever see you in a number twelve jersey**." Nanakusa grinned evilly at Tai after this remark.

"I don't know. As Izzy said, high school is a time for change. I might want the number ten jersey and attacking midfielder position this time around."

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Tai exclaimed loudly in response. Nanakusa burst out laughing at having successfully provoked him and, a few seconds later, Tai joined in.

"Well, we need to head off ahead. Since we're already on the team due to the athlete exemption policy, we need to go help out recruit new members." Nanakusa announced after the two had stopped laughing. With that, both her and Tai waved at the group before taking off in a full sprint out the classroom door and through the hallway (causing a passing-by teacher to look like he was going to yell at them before shaking his head and returning to his work).

"Those two are suited for each other." Matt remarked. Behind him, Izzy scowled in extreme displeasure at this remark.

Behind Izzy, Sora couldn't help but feel what Matt said was true. And for some reason, it was something she really, really felt uncomfortable with.

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><p>"I knew this school had a lot of clubs but…not THIS many." Joe remarked (he had joined the group on the bottom floor while they were changing their shoes to go outside) as the group walked outside into the schoolyard. "I don't remember this many clubs during recruitment day last year."<p>

"It certainly isn't anything like middle school, that's for sure." Sora remarked, whistling in surprise at the scene.

The scene itself was pure chaos. There were club tables set up quite literally on every single possible piece of open space in the yard, and tentative freshmen and students who were trying to get through to the main gate were being bombarded from all sides by club members shoving flyers into their already-fully hand as well as the usual bedlam that comes with club recruitment ("Join the tennis club!" "Join the baseball club!" "Hey, I saw this freshman first!" "Shut up, he's ours!").

"…I think I'm just going to go to the teacher's office and see about the requirements to get me and my band in our own club." Matt remarked after watching this scene for about a minute. "I'll catch up with you later Sora and we can go to a movie or something." He gave her a peck on the cheek (causing the auburn-haired girl to giggle), waved to the others and headed back into the school.

"…dammit." Izzy remarked once Matt was out of earshot.

"What's wrong, Izzy?" asked Joe.

"Nothing. Everything is _perfectly_ fine." Izzy answered while grinding his teeth together. While it was obvious that it was not, Joe wisely decided to drop the subject.

"In any case," Joe changed the subject, "from my experience last year, it's best if you head off to the club that you're most interested in while all this chaos is going on. If you wait until there's fewer people, the club members will be focused more on each individual rather than having to split their attention on everyone."

"That makes sense." Sora remarked. "Joe, you're already part of the medical research and studies club, right?"

"Indeed." Joe affirmed, shouldering his bag. "I'm not on recruitment duty today as well, so I was planning just to head home and get started on the homework that my year was assigned today…great." With that last remark, Joe waved to Izzy and Sora before starting to walk around the school.

"Wait, where are you going?" Izzy called out after him. Joe turned around for a second to answer:

"To hop the back fence. I'm sure your teacher told you that as well, didn't they?"

Izzy and Sora exchanged a look.

"…it wasn't a joke?"

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><p>"This is worse than what it looked like." Sora remarked, trying to push through a part of the crowd in the direction of the tennis club table. She and Izzy had gone their separate ways before entering the chaos, with Sora headed toward the tennis club and Izzy headed off in a full sprint in the direction of whatever club it was he had decided to join (since it was affirmed he was not going to join the computer club for whatever reason or another).<p>

"I wonder what Tai is up to at the moment. Probably part of this crazy mob trying to recruit more people to play along with that soccer freak." Sora giggled at the thought. She continued to push through the mob in silence and a few minutes later she arrived at the tennis club table, which was currently occupied by a slightly bored-looking girl.

"Ummmm…this is the tennis club table, right?" Sora asked tentatively. The girl looked up in response to Sora's question, blinked a few times, and then rose out of her seat quickly with a happy look on her face, causing Sora to take a step back at the abruptness.

"Isn't it Takenouchi-san? It's been a while!" the girl said. Sora blinked for a few moments before recognizing the form of Mika Taneguchi, one of her former tennis club sempai (upperclassman) back in middle school.

"Taneguchi-sempai? It's indeed been a while." Sora exclaimed back, and the two girls shared a hug.

"I never knew you had come to this school. I mean, it was expected with the close proximity to your home and to our former middle school, but I still never thought that you'd come here." Mika remarked after sitting back down at the table.

"I didn't know sempai was here either. This is a pleasant surprise." Sora replied.

"Well, I'd love to talk more, but it's probably going to be too chaotic at the moment." Mika said, looking around at the chaos in the yard. "I take it you're here to join the tennis club though?"

Sora nodded her head in response. Mika beamed in response.

"Well, all we need is your signature on a form of club intent and everything will be set!" Mika replied happily, reaching down and picking up a club application form on the table and handing it to Sora. Sora accepted the form and reached for a pen on the table to sign with before stopping and hesitating.

"Is something wrong?" asked Mika.

"No…" Sora replied, standing back up for a moment and staring in the direction of where the soccer club's table was located in. She then turned back to face Mika and smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry, but is it ok if I brood over this decision for a day? Just to make up my mind on this matter." Sora asked. Mika blinked a few times in surprise before smiling back at her.

"Of course it's fine. Feel free to take the application with you as well." Sora nodded in thanks before waving to Mika (and promising to get together and talk sometime in the future) and heading out. On her way to the gate to meet Matt, she had to make one stop, but eventually managed to make it to the front gate, where she found her boyfriend waiting for her leaning against the wall.

"Glad you made it out alive." Said Matt. Sora smiled awkwardly in response. "Well, shall we go watch a movie?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p><em>The Next Day<em>

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><p>Ping-pong, Ping-pong.<p>

"And that concludes for the day." Said Ohta sensei as he closed his teaching material. "Please remember your homework assignment that'd due tomorrow, as well as the fact that club recruitment will continue through the entire week."

"Stand, bow."

As the class broke up at the end of another day of school, Tai sighed and collapsed forward onto his desk.

"I can't take this anymore…" he moaned. Sora rolled her eyes at him.

"What happened to all that motivation that you showed yesterday?"

Tai looked up at her for a second before collapsing his head back onto his desk.

"The motivation is still there…it's just that after all that I did in middle school it's hard to change and switch back."

"I have to give you props for at least trying though." Izzy remarked from where he was packing up his computer at his desk.

"We'll see." Tai replied.

"Tai, we need to go help with recruitment again." Nanakusa's voice came from behind. At this point, Tai instantly shot up out of his seat like a rocket.

"That's right! It's soccer time! Izzy, let's go!" With that Tai grabbed Nanakusa by one of her long sleeves and took off out of the classroom door, dragging the unfortunate girl behind him, causing Izzy to shake his head in exasperation at the sight.

"What did he mean by calling you, Izzy?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I kinda joined the soccer club as well. I miss not playing it since elementary school." The computer boy answered. "…and you know what? I don't regret it either. It both works toward my goal and should be fun." With that, he smiled and waved at Matt and Sora as he headed off after Tai and Nanakusa.

"I never would have expected that." said Matt. Sora nodded in agreement. "Well, I need to round up the guys and get our club formed. Apparently we only need five people and a teacher to be a club sponsor."

"Alright, I'll see you later." Sora replied from where she was still staring in the direction Tai and Nanakusa had disappeared in. Matt looked concerned for a second, but then cleared his thoughts and headed out.

Sora meanwhile was the only one who didn't move yet from the classroom. Internally, she was feeling turmoil at the sight of Tai and Nanakusa getting close. Reaching into her pocket, she took out one of the club applications that she had picked up yesterday and stared at the writing on it.

"…I don't want them to get closer…" the auburn-haired girl muttered to herself.

It was then that she made her decision.

* * *

><p>3rd year Koichi Minamoto was sitting at the soccer club recruitment table. As he was the one in charge of the table today, it was his job to wait there for anyone who was interested in joining to come by.<p>

And he was bored.

He sighed as he laid his head down on the table. In two days, there had been all of three applications to the club, one of which was from someone who had not played the sport in several years. Not that it was to be expected anyhow, the soccer club was widely renowned in the region and it was highly unlikely that anyone would be able to walk onto the main team from a club application.

His head perked back up however, at the peripheral sight of someone walking up to the table and laying their application paper onto the table.

"I would like to join the soccer club." The voice of a certain auburn-haired girl said. "If you'll have me."

* * *

><p>A little ways off in the crowd, Izzy spotted this sight at the table. He grinning widely, making a couple freshmen he was handing out fliers to back a couple steps away in fear.<p>

"It looks like my plan is being set into motion."

* * *

><p>One other person had also spotted this scene occurring at the soccer club table. From atop Tai's shoulders where she was throwing fliers into the wind for everyone in the chaos to read (and drawing a lot of attention), Nanakusa smiled happily at this sight.<p>

"So fate is back on the right course once again…"

"Did you say something?" asked Tai, who was concentrating on not dropping Nanakusa off his shoulders.

"It's nothing." The girl replied with an obviously happy tone in her voice.

* * *

><p><strong>Decision End<strong>

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><p><strong>Well, there is the end of chapter 2. Please R&amp;R and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!<strong>


	4. Picture

**So I was looking back at the previous chapter and I noticed I had put two footnotes (marked with asterisks) where I had intended to explain some items…with the minor mistake that I completely forgot to put the footnotes in at the end. ^^;**

**With that said, these following two footnotes relate to the last chapter, not this one:**

***I have previously listed Tai's last name as Yagami in the prologue, but accidentally switched to Kamiya in chapter 2. For the sake of consistency as well as I believe more people will identify Kamiya faster than Yagami, I will be listing Tai's last name as Kamiya for the rest of this story.**

****This is a soccer reference. Number 12 is referring to the backup goalkeeper, who is usually on the bench while Number one is referring to the starting goalkeeper. However, goalkeepers are free to wear whatever number they want, so this reference is not used very often, if at all.**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own digimon…and I am sad about it<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Picture<strong>

* * *

><p>"I'm home."<p>

"Welcome back." Sora's mom called out from where she was arranging some flowers on a shelf as her daughter walked in through the front door of the store. "How was your day today?"

"It was normal." Sora replied as she walked behind the counter to put her schoolbag down. "The classes went fine and I managed to not only survive club day, but sign up for the club that I decided on, so all-in-all it was a normal day."

"Oh, it's club recruitment week." Ms. Takenouchi remarked. "I remember that from my own days in high school." She seemed lost in thought for a little while before snapping back to reality. "I take it you joined the tennis club?"

"No." Sora hesitantly replied. "I decided on the soccer club in the end."

"I see, the soccer…club…" Ms. Takenouchi trailed off at the end as she paused what she was doing to turn and look at her daughter. It was obvious to Sora that there was a mix of surprise and disappointment on her mother's face.

Sora sighed. This was something she knew she had to tackle head-on when she made the decision to sign up for the soccer club.

"Mom, I know you've been thinking of what's best for me, and I really do appreciate everything you've done and continue to do. But tennis and flower arranging just doesn't have the same sort of feeling as soccer has for me; it didn't have the excitement, the feeling of exhilaration when scoring a goal, the feeling of playing as a team and celebrating victory after a game." Sora paused for a second as she collected her thoughts before continuing: "Mom, don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate everything. But soccer has been my identity ever since I started playing, and continues to be the sport I can express myself the best. I want to go back to having that expression and feeling again."

Ms. Takenouchi was silent for a moment as she stared at her daughter's determined eyes.

"You are confident in this choice?" she asked.

"Yes." Sora replied.

"You have no regrets about following through with this choice?"

"Yes."

"You're determined to follow through on this choice from here on out?"

"Yes."

There was a long moment of silence between mother and daughter as they stared at each other. Neither of them moved as the only sound in the flower shop was the ticking of the clock above the counter.

Ms. Takenouchi finally broke the silence as she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Perhaps this is my fault. I was so focused on thinking what was best for you in my eyes I forgot to take into account what you felt was best for yourself."

As she finished her statement, Ms. Takenouchi suddenly walked behind the counter, picked up the phone and started punching in a phone number.

"What are you doing mom?" Sora asked, confused.

"I'm going to call Sakamoto-san to see if he can take over the store for a little while." Ms. Takenouchi answered as she continued to punch numbers on the telephone. "After that, the two of us are going to go shopping together."

"Shopping?" asked Sora, tilting her head to one side in confusion. Her mother looked up from the phone and smiled at her daughter.

"If you're serious about this, then I believe you need new soccer gear unless you want to use the ones you had in elementary school." Ms. Takenouchi replied. Sora stood there for a moment, soaking in what her mother had said, before breaking into a wide grin.

"Hai!"

* * *

><p>As was in most schools, the rumor mill is a terrifying thing. When Sora arrived at school the next day, she found that the latest rumor that was circling around at least the first and second year classes (mainly with students who had come from either Odaiba elementary school or middle school and with Tai's soccer fangirls) was the fact that the 'legendary Kamiya soccer partner' Sora Takenouchi had returned to the soccer route in some grand, exemplary fashion.<p>

This, of course, did not fail to annoy Sora to no end.

"How the hell did this get out so fast?" Sora asked as she plopped down into her class seat. "I swear, there has to be someone stalking me every single waking moment of my life."

"That isn't too far from the truth." Nanakusa remarked from behind Sora, where she was leaning back in her seat. "The fact that some certain members of the soccer club who knew you from before you left soccer before ran around in a crazy frenzy screaming the news after you left the campus yesterday didn't exactly help either."

"Tai?" Sora stared hard at her 'legendary partner.'

"Hey, it wasn't me." Tai said defensively, waving his hand in front of his face in a negative manner. "I honestly didn't even know you joined the soccer club until I heard the rumor after arriving at school today either. I already assumed you joined the tennis club."

"Yeah, I thought I would too." Sora replied.

"Why did you decide to come back to soccer?" Tai asked. "I mean, I'm very, very happy and pleasantly surprised to the point where I want to run around screaming like a maniac in glee (Izzy: "Please don't"), but I have to be honest that I wasn't expecting this at all."

"Well…" Sora began while turning to look at Nanakusa behind her. Nanakusa blinked a couple times in confusion before a lightbulb went off above her head and she revealed a oh-I-see-what's-going-on-exactly type of evil grin at Sora, who immediately turned back to face Tai. "…let's just say my love for soccer never actually died and I never really wanted to quit in the first place."

"Works for me!" Tai exclaimed, laughing in glee as he clapped Sora on the shoulder. "I have an assist partner again!"

"I don't know what you're talking about as you're the one who's going to be assisting me more." Sora grinned. "After all, I am a striker, which plays above your position and closer to the goal."

Tai's laughter instantly died off at this point as he realized her point. Now it was Sora's turn to burst out laughing at her 'legendary partner's' expression.

"Don't worry Tai. If she scores, I'll make all her goals moot by allowing the opponent to equalize." Nanakusa piped up in support of Tai. This outrageous statement was the last straw, as all three conversation-involved people burst out laughing in the middle of class, drawing stares from all of their classmates who were filtering into the classroom (Izzy was chuckling at his computer as well).

"Oh geeze, that was good." Sora managed to gasp out as she finished laughing. As she was finishing, she looked over toward Matt's seat. The rock star (proclaimed) was sitting there listening in on the conversation with some interest, but when Sora looked over, he had a 'we need to talk' look on his face. Sora sighed and nodded her affirmation at the request.

It was at that moment where the teacher walked into the room and everyone scrambled back to their respective seats to begin the school day.

* * *

><p>"So you actually did go back." Matt remarked from where he and Sora were sitting during lunch break. The group was not sitting together at lunch today as each of them had their own respective items to do during the break: Joe was at some emergency recruitment meeting for his club, Izzy had gone off to practice getting back into soccer with Tai (as he was incredibly rusty after not having played for so long), and Nanakusa had disappeared right as the lunch break started. This left Matt and Sora sitting together at the group's usual lunch spot.<p>

"I did indeed." Sora affirmed. There was a long moment of silence between the two before Matt spoke up:

"I was shocked when I heard about it, I will have to admit."

"I think everyone was surprised, no more so than myself." Sora answered back.

"What made you decide so?" Matt asked.

"We-" Sora started to answer, but then stopped. Matt looked at her inquisitively.

"Hmm?"

"I just found myself wanting to go back to soccer." Sora lied. "I've always wanted to go back, but I wasn't able to before because my mom wanted me to become more…feminine I guess." Inwardly, she felt turmoil at lying to her boyfriend, but she suspected it was for the best as he probably would not be happy with the real reason.

"A few weeks ago during one of our dinner dates you were constantly telling me how excited you were to join the high school tennis team with a few of your old sempai." Matt remarked, causing Sora to freeze. "Something must have happened between then and now."

"Well…"

"Is something wrong? I can help you if something is troubling you." Matt pushed, a concerned look on his face. Sora inwardly smiled at the concern he was showing her. It wouldn't be too bad if she told him, right?

"Well, the truth of the matter is-"

"Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

Sora was cut off as a female voice caused both her and Matt to look around. Nanakusa was standing there, carrying her soccer bag and looking at the two of them.

"Oh, Nanakusa, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." said Sora. Matt gave his girlfriend a look, but turned back to face the other girl.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked. Nanakusa thought for a moment before answering:

"Oh, I was actually looking for you. The staff office wanted you to come by when you have time because they have a status update on the formation of your club."

"Is that so?" Matt said, standing up quickly. He turned to Sora with an apologetic look on his face and the girl sighed before making a 'go, go' motion with her hand. "I'll catch up with you later then!" he called out as he ran off toward the school building.

Nanakusa and Sora stood in place for a moment looking after Matt's retreating form before Nanakusa spoke up:

"You shouldn't tell him."

"Eh?" Sora replied, turning to look at Nanakusa while confused. Nanakusa continued to stare straight ahead.

"If you tell him the reason, it will ruin everything. Therefore, please restrain yourself from telling him."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, her confused look turning into a suspicious one. Nanakusa turned to smile at her before patting the auburn-haired girl on the shoulder.

"Until you realize something yourself, nothing good will come out of it." Nanakusa replied. "I'll see you at practice later today." With this, Nanakusa walked off while waving over her shoulder.

Sora continued to stare at the retreating form of the girl, a mixture of suspicion and confusion on her face.

"Realizing something myself? What is she talking about…?"

* * *

><p>"That was close…"Nanakusa sighed to herself as she leaned against one of the railings on the roof of the school (where she had gone after separating from Sora). "That almost negated my entire effort so far in one swoop."<p>

She looked up at the blue sky, and then down at the school grounds. Off in the distance, she could barely make out two small figures of a goggle-headed boy and a computer nerd passing a soccer ball back and forth with each other, a sight that brought a tiny smile to her face.

"That's a nostalgic sight." Nanakusa remarked. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out a folded-up picture that she was carrying, unfolded it, and looked at it with a smile on her face. The picture in itself was nothing special, just a picture of three young kids, two of which were flanking either side of a hospital bed, which the third kid was in. All three had happy expression on their faces despite the situation of the one in the middle.

All of a sudden, Nanakusa brought her hand up to her face as she violently coughed. The picture fluttered to the roof's floor as the girl fell to her knees, still violently coughing. A few seconds later, she stopped and stared down at her hand.

"…I need to hurry. There's not a lot of time left." she whispered to herself as she stared at her now-bloody hand.

* * *

><p><strong>End Picture<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that is the end of both chapter 3 and the introduction arc. With the next chapter, the main part of the story begins in fullest. I hope that is continues to provide and good read, and please R&amp;R if you have time, as I value the you readers' reviews and opinions!<strong>

**I also think this chapter's quality falls a bit short of the previous ones, but all I remember thinking to myself is "get past the introduction into the main story GRAAAHHHHH" so please forgive me ^^**

**I hope to see you in chapter 4!**


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